1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a brake caster for hand carts, in particular to a brake caster installable on hand carts, which uses a stroke adjustment mechanism to tune the brake so as to extend the service life of the caster without numerous replacements of the wheels.
2. The Related Art
The hand carts are used in shopping malls, large plazas, and airports, which provide a convenient means of transporting bulky or heavy merchandise, cargo or luggage. To steer and stop the hand carts efficiently, many are equipped with hand brakes. The hand brake actually uses the brake casters installed on the bottom of the hand cart, and mechanically connected through a connecting means to a handle bar disposed above the rack, to allow the user to control the brake with the hands. Once the handle bar is depressed, the brake is released and the hand cart is then free to move forward or backward, but when the external force is removed from the handle bar, the handle bar automatically springs back and the mechanical force is transferred onto the brake, which will then press against the rubber of the wheel to bring the hand cart to a standstill.
After the hand cart is operated for certain time, the center portion on the wheel of the caster, usually made of solid rubber or PU material, is gradually worn out by repeated grinding of the rubber. As a result of that, the gap between the brake and the wheel is widened to affect the braking effect, or in the worst case the brake will have no effect at all. To repair the hand cart under these conditions, the conventional way simply to replace the wheels of the casters, but numerous replacements of the wheels will definitely increase the operation cost.